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The MV-1, made by Vehicle Production Group (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)

Humvee manufacturer AM General paid $3 million at auction to purchase the U.S. Department of Energy's loan to Vehicle Production Group, a defunct maker of wheelchair-accessible vans that struggled to meet performance targets and shut down earlier this year.

Together with $5 million seized from the company's accounts in April, that means the DOE recovered just $8 million of the $50 million it loaned VPG back in March 2011 under a government program designed to promote advanced technology vehicles. VPG's plan was to sell handicapped vans that run on compressed natural gas.

Taxpayers also took a loss on the collapse of Fisker Automotive, which was awarded $529 million under the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing program, but received only $193 million before the DOE cut them off for failing to meet performance targets.

While critics have blasted the Energy Department for its handling of the ATVM and other green loan programs, the DOE said losses represent a small fraction of its portfolio. "While an auction was not what anyone hoped, our overall portfolio of more than 30 projects remains strong. Cumulative losses represent about 2 percent of the portfolio, and less than ten percent of the $10 billion in loan loss reserves that Congress set aside for the programs," according to a statement from DOE spokesman Bill Gibbons.

"After exhausting any realistic possibility for a sale that might have protected our entire investment, the Department determined that auctioning the remainder of VPG's loan obligation offered the best possible recovery for the taxpayer. We are pleased that - consistent with the intent of the loan - AM General has committed to the continued production of these very popular, handicap-accessible, natural gas-powered fleet vehicles in Indiana. Their plant will continue operations, generating job opportunities for American workers and helping to establish a domestic manufacturing base for these advanced vehicles."

AM General, which had been producing the vans for VPG at its factory in Mishawaka, Ind., until last March, will now own and operate VPG through a new subsidiary called Mobility Ventures LLC. The company said it will use its position as senior lender to restructure VPG's assets and resume production, sales and development of the MV-1, which was designed specifically for wheelchair passengers.

AM General has built 2,200 MV-1 vans to date, selling them mostly to commercial fleet operators. Since VPG shut down operations last March, "demand for the MV-1 has only increased, with a backlog of 2,000 vehicles," said AM General spokesman Jeff Adams. "No one else is better positioned to build this vehicle," he said. "We've got the workers, and the suppliers are ready to go."

The MV-1 is available with a compressed natural gas fuel option, but the majority of sales are believed to be conventional gasoline-powered.